Author: News Room

Dozens of major news organizations, including CNN, The Washington Post and Fox News, wrote to the White House this week urging the Trump administration to immediately lift its ban on The Associated Press, which had been prohibited from attending a number of official press events over the past week.The White House has said it is blocking reporters from the news service because the outlet refers to the Gulf of Mexico in its articles, rather than “Gulf of America,” as decreed by President Trump in an executive order on Jan. 20.The letter, which was coordinated by the White House Correspondents’ Association…

The Federal Reserve’s independence from the White House has long been enshrined in the law. But an executive order that President Trump signed this week seeking to extend his administration’s reach over independent agencies is prompting concerns about how much further he will go to challenge that separation.Mr. Trump’s directive took aim at regulatory agencies that had typically operated with limited political interference as authorized by Congress.The order partially shielded the Fed by exempting the central bank’s decisions on interest rates. Those are voted on at every meeting by seven presidentially-appointed members of the Board of Governors, who typically serve…

The British family that has steered the James Bond franchise for more than 60 years, zealously protecting the superspy from the indignities of Hollywood strip mining, has agreed to relinquish control to Amazon.The deal, which was announced Thursday morning, comes after a behind-the-scenes standoff between Barbara Broccoli, who inherited control of Bond from her father, and Amazon, which gained a significant ownership stake in the franchise in 2021 as part of its $8.5 billion purchase of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Ms. Broccoli and her brother, Michael G. Wilson, another Bond producer, had chafed at some of the ways in which Amazon hoped to…

The Trump administration is targeting government officials who had been flagging foreign interference in U.S. elections, despite continuing concerns that adversaries are stoking political and social divisions by spreading propaganda and disinformation online, current and former government officials said.The administration has already reassigned several dozen officials working on the issue at the Federal Bureau of Investigation and forced out others at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, part of the Department of Homeland Security, they said.The cuts have focused on people who were not only combating false content online but also working on broader safeguards to protect elections from cyberattacks…

Legal warnings posted on the door of a private, for-profit hospital in eastern China tracked its descent into financial failure.Huiren Hospital in the city of Suqian was warned for failing to pay employees. Four months later, a judicial summons said it still had not paid back wages. Finally, in September a paper taped across its entrance declared the building closed.The hospital, once known for treating men with infertility or sexually transmitted diseases, had been hollowed out. The furniture and equipment were gone. There was no staff.Public and private hospitals across China are suffering financially. During the Covid-19 pandemic, their expenses…

Almost every day, Grant Lee, a Silicon Valley entrepreneur, hears from investors who try to persuade him to take their money. Some have even sent him and his co-founders personalized gift baskets.Mr. Lee, 41, would normally be flattered. In the past, a fast-growing start-up like Gamma, the artificial intelligence start-up he helped establish in 2020, would have constantly looked out for more funding.But like many young start-ups in Silicon Valley today, Gamma is pursuing a different strategy. It is using artificial intelligence tools to increase its employees’ productivity in everything from customer service and marketing to coding and customer research.That…

Elon Musk’s role as President Trump’s cost-cutting czar and his immersion in right-wing politics appears to be diverting his attention from Tesla at a perilous moment for the electric car company.Tesla’s car sales fell 1 percent last year even as the global market for electric vehicles grew 25 percent. Mr. Musk has not addressed that underperformance, and he has offered no concrete plan to revive sales. He has also provided no details about a more affordable model Tesla says it will start producing this year. In the past, Mr. Musk spent months or years promoting vehicles before they appeared in…

DealBook’s Lauren Hirsch is in Miami Beach at the FII Priority conference, where President Trump floated the idea of sending Americans a dividend or refund check from money saved by DOGE rather than use all of it to pay down the debt. More below.Separately, since you may read about this elsewhere, I thought I’d share with you a secret I’ve been keeping: For the past eight years, I’ve been working on a follow-up to my book, “Too Big to Fail.” I’ve written what I think of as a prequel: a nonfiction, character-driven, behind-the-scenes account of 1929, the year of the…

Walmart, the largest retailer in the United States, said on Thursday that strong holiday sales propelled its revenue to another annual record but flagged a weaker-than-expected forecast for growth this year, as shoppers face challenges like stubborn inflation, the uncertain impact of tariffs and a potential rise in unemployment.Walmart said sales rose to $681 billion in its latest fiscal year, which runs through January, a 5.1 percent increase from the year before. The retailer’s annual profit jumped faster than sales, to around $20 billion.The crucial holiday shopping season was a strong one for the retailer, with more people visiting stores…

Last August, a hotel room in Europe priced at 200 euros was about $224. Today, travelers spending American dollars would pay only $208.On the rise since last autumn, the dollar is strong compared with a number of foreign currencies, including the euro, the Japanese yen and the Canadian dollar. And President Trump’s tariff threat is only making it stronger.For travelers, the exchange rate bonus makes trips abroad extra appealing.“We’ve seen an increase in international bookings as travelers look to maximize the value of their dollar abroad,” said Michael Johnson, the president of Ensemble, a travel agency consortium. “The strength of…